diff --git a/src/config/plugin-auto-enable.shared.ts b/src/config/plugin-auto-enable.shared.ts
index 41dd7ea5910..cb9d2a2e18e 100644
--- a/src/config/plugin-auto-enable.shared.ts
+++ b/src/config/plugin-auto-enable.shared.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { collectConfiguredAgentHarnessRuntimes } from "../agents/harness-runtime
 import { normalizeProviderId } from "../agents/provider-id.js";
 import { listPotentialConfiguredChannelPresenceSignals } from "../channels/config-presence.js";
 import { getChatChannelMeta, normalizeChatChannelId } from "../channels/registry.js";
+import { getCurrentPluginMetadataSnapshot } from "../plugins/current-plugin-metadata-snapshot.js";
 import {
   type PluginManifestRecord,
   type PluginManifestRegistry,
@@ -886,14 +887,23 @@ export function resolvePluginAutoEnableManifestRegistry(params: {
   env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv;
   manifestRegistry?: PluginManifestRegistry;
 }): PluginManifestRegistry {
+  if (params.manifestRegistry) {
+    return params.manifestRegistry;
+  }
+  if (!configMayNeedPluginManifestRegistry(params.config, params.env)) {
+    return EMPTY_PLUGIN_MANIFEST_REGISTRY;
+  }
+  const currentSnapshot = getCurrentPluginMetadataSnapshot({
+    config: params.config,
+    env: params.env,
+    allowWorkspaceScopedSnapshot: true,
+  });
   return (
-    params.manifestRegistry ??
-    (configMayNeedPluginManifestRegistry(params.config, params.env)
-      ? loadPluginMetadataSnapshot({
-          config: params.config,
-          env: params.env,
-        }).manifestRegistry
-      : EMPTY_PLUGIN_MANIFEST_REGISTRY)
+    currentSnapshot?.manifestRegistry ??
+    loadPluginMetadataSnapshot({
+      config: params.config,
+      env: params.env,
+    }).manifestRegistry
   );
 }